yourself. See why a word from you may
continue still to banish me from his presence. You know, doubtless,
that your father was one of the chiefs of a party that sought to free
Northern Italy from the Austrians. I myself was at the onset a warm
participator in that scheme. In a sudden moment I discovered that some
of its more active projectors had coupled with a patriotic enterprise
plots of a dark nature, and that the conspiracy itself was about to be
betrayed to the government. I wished to consult with your father; but
he was at a distance. I learned that his life was condemned. Not an
hour was to be lost. I took a bold resolve, that has exposed me to his
suspicions and to my country's wrath. But my main idea was to save him,
my early friend, from death, and my country from fruitless massacre.

"I withdrew from the intended revolt. I sought at once the head of the
Austrian government in Italy, and made terms for the lives of Alphonso
and of the other more illustrious chiefs, which otherwise would have
been forfeited. I obtained permission to undertake myself the charge of
securing my kinsman in order to place him in safety, and to conduct
him to a foreign land, in an exile that would cease when the danger was
dispelled. But unhappily he deemed that I only sought to destroy him. He
fled from my friendly pursuit. The soldiers with me were attacked by an
intermeddling Englishman; your father escaped from Italy, concealing
his retreat; and the character of his flight counteracted my efforts
to obtain his pardon. The government conferred on me half his revenues,
holding the other half at its pleasure. I accepted the offer in order to
save his whole heritage from confiscation. That I did not convey to him
what I pined to do,--namely, the information that I held but in trust
what was bestowed by the government, and the full explanation of what
seemed blamable in my conduct,--was necessarily owing to the secrecy he
maintained. I could not discover his refuge; but I never ceased to plead
for his recall. This year only I have partially succeeded. He can be
restored to his heritage and rank, on one proviso,--a guarantee for his
loyalty. That guarantee the government has named: it is the alliance
of his only child with one whom the government can trust. It was the
interest of all the Italian nobility that the representation of a House
so great falling to a female should not pass away wholly from the direct
line,--in a word, that y